Criticism is a universal concept. Whether the subject be cinema, literature, or even individuals themselves. Each fall prey to negative or rather, "harsh criticism". Our discussion today is focused on the Anime Community and it's dealing with criticism. Now to elaborate:

Prime Example: Sword Art Online

Sword Art Online is a controversial series when brought into conversation(more so through web forums).
Some have revered Sword Art Online as an absolute masterpiece; praise among all that is holy and divine.
And of course, "Others"(as I like to refer to) have compared the series to the equivalent of whale diarrhea.
Now, the issue at hand doesn't involve whether or not Sword Art Online is worthy of it's acclaim, but the hateful criticism that follows those who voice their enjoyment of the series.
To put simply: Assholes. Assholes. Assholes.
The ratio of SAO fans and non-SAO fans(in my opinion) is 50/50.
For all those who support the series, there are just as many who oppose it.
Please understand that I'm not claiming this to be a new issue on the rise.
Criticism and inconsideration for ideals that someone may not share is a problem that has followed mankind since the moment we were able to communicate. Take YouTube for example.
For every positive, uplifting comment you'll find on any video, you'll find 3x's the negative amount of comments.
Why do you suppose this is?
We can all theorize, but there is no definite source and there is no definite solution.

In conclusion,

Please leave a response and allow me to understand your view on the topic.
I may seem naive for basically asking the community why hateful people exist, but the idea of this discussion isn't necessarily to find an answer.

Well personally i thought it was very well executed. Why people hate on it so much i don't understand. Even though it couldn't hold up to the genius material in the light novel, the anime was still amazing(up to the 14th episode). Maybe by putting their expectations at a 100, they were disappointed to see it only reached 80.

Is it only me that thinks humans have a tendacy to hate a lot more on living things and objects that some people like? Apart from SAO, take Justin Bieber for instant. Lots of teenage girls love him, and at the same time other people hate on him like their life depended on it.

One day I went to the Live Stream At Sakura Con, and many of the people on there were boo booing and jeering any time they saw one little thing that pertained to SAO. I was utterly in shock, cause, well for one I was still fanboying at a really high level for SAO, The comment section on each SAO episode I saw was good reviews. I could find no one who was not enjoying themselves with this anime, and lastly the words "Bad Anime" directed toward Sword Art Online was an idea in mind not even remotely possible. I assumed that even people who down right hate to just freaking hate were staying up all night to Marathon this anime!.

The funny part is most of the so called haters were like everyone else waiting at release time for the anime to come out, Marathoning (if behind) as much as possible, they were no different from the fan boys, who only saw a level of epic not scene since (I dare say it) DBZ. Yes, people were putting it at DBZ level of epic. That I think was the first crack in the full support of viewers for SAO. People would come to forums ranting and raving as much as possible from there desktop, typing furiously away at their sperm stricken key boards, and condeming all the overhype from a misguide so called epic anime...As most haters/people with high opinions would put it.

After the Overhype, came the intellectuals of the forums, the so called secret dwelling Anime Experts who know what good PLOT is, Who know what good CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT was, who to them and many other high speaking intellectuals of the Forums knew the shitty truth put together by Sword Art online animators. They came with their highly praised breakdown of sword art and paused the happiness of many people toward Sword Art, because after reading these in-depth post the fanboys and the inbetweens actually stopped for a second and put their fan boying to the side to also break down SAO for themseleves and see where it stands.

Thats when I think It became 50/50......I was surprised at first how all you heard was 100% lovers of the anime almost not one bad thing said about the anime. Then as people move on (SAO still within their hearts) the haters came in with the overhypness, then the killer were the so called anime Experts who broke down the flaws of SAO and made people forget some of the good, because cmon its over why would we watching again just to see if someone was right about something.

That is my view of the captivating fandom/hatedom of SAO (mistakes, typos, grammar) pulled an all nighter forgive me (no edit)

It's not just Sword Art Online.
Just because SAO is your favourite anime doesn't mean it's "good" or "enjoyable" for everyone else.

There are a lot of animes that are considered masterpieces, yet I still give them negative criticisms, such as "Cowboy Bebop", or "One Piece".
Why?
Simply because they don't meet my taste or standards.

And just because someone gives a negative criticism, it doesn't mean they "hate" the anime. I still like One Piece even though I gave it negative criticism before, especially regarding powerups and extended fight scenes.

I will not forgive you for writing such a short thread after getting my hopes up.

I scrolled down past the picture in your post and nothing else as there! What the heck man.

More seriously, it's social engineering. We are taught to conform at an early age and to jeer at people who don't. At some point the general consensus put SAO in the "gross" category and all the cute little sheep began bleating their disdain. Because it's comfortable in the sheep pen with all the other sheep doing sheepish things.

So after awhile most people just "get it" and bleat appropriately.

And this can turn something like "hating SAO" into a "thing" that people just conform to.

This is pretty important to social science, but it's irritating when people go with the flow without using their brains.

That's how people like Adolf Hitler get elected to run things.

I think SAO shotgunned itself in the feet a few too many times and wasted a lot of potential from an objective perspective, but I still enjoyed watching (most of) it. And even if I hadn't I wouldn't mind if someone else did. I might point and laugh sometimes, but it's in the same way that I would if I saw someone wearing a ridiculous hat; not to actually be mean.

Edit: There's also the smug sense of superiority from hating things people like who are in rival sheep pens.

Personally I tend to break down media like it's an old alarm clock or something and take a look at all the parts, so I can sound absurdly critical of even things that I kind of like. There are very few things, anime or otherwise, that I like enough to be blind to their faults. But I try not to inconvenience people with my tinkering (unless they like Code Geass).

The short answer is that people like what they like. The long answer is that the greatest animes don't do just do one thing well, they do most things well. So whilst I enjoy the witty, clever jokes and the breaking of the 4th wall in Gintama, others may prefer Gintama's slapstick physical comedy or the occasional toilet humour.

I didn't dislike SAO. I found it watchable, and thought the fight scenes were done well. However it was very disjointed at the start when it kept jumping around.

I think also when something gets over-hyped, there's a natural reaction to try and set it in context, and explain to people that it's not the masterpiece they make it out to be. Normally it tends to be the shonen battle manga shows like AoT and SAO that tend to polarise opinions so much. For series like Gintama and Clannad After Story, the majority of people think they're great and the people that don't don't feel strongly enough to post any criticism.

I think also when something gets over-hyped, there's a natural reaction to try and set it in context, and explain to people that it's not the masterpiece they make it out to be. Normally it tends to be the shonen battle manga shows like AoT and SAO that tend to polarise opinions so much. For series like Gintama and Clannad After Story, the majority of people think they're great and the people that don't don't feel strongly enough to post any criticism.

This is a good point too.

More extremely, it seems like hating something that's really hyped is a hipster thing to do lately. Naruto and Bleach are big ones that people are proud of hating for some asinine reason, but SAO and AoT are definitely up there too.

I think a lot of it boils down to human nature. Most people don't understand when people don't have the same opinions as they do. It gets even worse when people are younger. And, let's face it, most of anime fandom is made of teenagers and those in their early 20s. Then, you throw in those who see others they think of as cool criticizing something, and they have to take it to a further extreme in a bid for approval/appearance of coolness.

IMO, SAO is better than the average anime series. It is also not the best out there. But, if someone disagrees with me, I'm not upset about it. I realize there are shows that I like or dislike that others disagree with me on. My response is that is their choice.

People have differing opinions on a wide variety of topics. People have different likes and dislikes. Its just the way people are.

Sometimes people just follow the crowd rather than have their own opinions though.
"Oh every one seems to be hating this show" -> *goes and watches show with a negative perception already in place* -> "yeah this show sucked"
Although many people would deny this, I would suppose many people have read the comments/reviews on shows and formed an early opinion that is influenced by others rather than formed on their own.

Gonna go off on a bit of a tangent but this kind of relates to the theory of "nostalgia" for old shows where we think they are classic masterpieces that cannot be compared to the "crap" we get today. But we are already conditioned by our early years growing up and enjoying it. And when we watch it again in the present time, we still hold onto those old feelings, no matter how subconscious they may be, they are still there and affect how we view the show.

Hype and overhype of a show tend to lead to a larger backlash because of the larger viewer base. Shows with small audiences like say for example Kore wa Zombie desu ka? know for the most part what they would be expecting beforehand, not many people go in expecting some plot drama heavy show or anything. Even if there is some "hate" for the show, it is relatively small because the viewer base itself is small and the target audience are for the most part the ones watching it so they will enjoy it.

For the most part shows will always have a divided fanbase, especially if the show is "big" because big shows tend to 1) lead to overzealous fans who cannot bear to hear opinions that clash with their own and 2) those that were so hyped that they set up ridiculous expectations for the show only to be disappointed by something they did to themselves. These tend to be the most vocal groups whereas those who just watched it and enjoyed it or didn't and don't make a big fuss out of it and move on with their lives make another group that are not as outspoken. Thus this leads to many outsiders seeing a fanbase as being ONLY two groups ("the fanboys/girls and the haters") rather than three.

SAO was a very disappointing show for me. Episodes 1 and 2 were a great start for the show, but after that, it just went down hill. Pretty much every episode after that up to episode 9 (the point where I stopped) were side stories that had nothing to do with the main plot. So obviously there was little story development but also character development. After I got up to episode 9, what did I know about this character? He is good at the game, he prefers to play alone (was his reasoning even explained or was it just used to make the main character look cool because he is doing all of this difficult stuff alone? I mean, that is a very impractical way of playing the game if you want to beat it and not die and save the countless people who are stuck in the game..

But even with that, I don't hate the show or the people who like it. I was just sad that it ended up being what it was, especially since I play MMOs all the time, so it had a theme that was very meaningful to me.

I liked SAO, I think the series draws a lot of heat because the second half was complete rubbish. If something is good people can stomach just about any viewpoint to watch it. Luke liked Leia, until they found out they are twins. Nobody got mad at Lucas got that tease.